Drone used by Derbyshire police grounded over safety fears

A drone used by several police forces, including Derbyshire, has been grounded over safety fears.
A droneA drone
A drone

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has grounded all DJI Matrice 200 series drones after a small number of incidents were reported where they lost power and fell directly to the ground.

The notice reads: "A small number of incidents have been recently reported where the aircraft has suffered a complete loss of power during flight, despite indications that there was sufficient battery time still remaining.

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"In each case, this resulted in the aircraft falling directly to the ground due to the immediate loss of lift with the remote pilot unable to control its subsequent flight path.

"The small unmanned aircraft (SUA) were damaged upon impact, but the CAA has not received any reports of injuries to people or property."

Last week, Derbyshire police announced it was launching a dedicated 'drone squad'.

The force said it would be using a DJI Matrice 210 and a DJI Mavic Pro.

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It added that drones could be used for a variety of purposes including monitoring a live incident from the air, using the thermal imaging camera to locate someone in a remote location or aiding an investigation with aerial images of a scene.

A spokesperson for Derbyshire police said the affected drone had been grounded but the rest of the fleet remained operational.